The West African nation Closes Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Restrictions Worsens Fuel Crisis
Mali has closed educational facilities and colleges throughout the country due to a acute fuel scarcity triggered by a embargo on fuel imports enforced by jihadist fighters.
Minister of Education stated on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the movement of staff and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.
He asserted that the authorities were “making every effort” to end the situation so that classes could resume on the tenth of November.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a blockade by striking fuel trucks on primary roads.
The country is landlocked, so all energy resources are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.
The military government had earlier this month reassured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.
Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and growing protection worries.
It noted that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.
The West African nation is now led by a army council under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago.
The ruling council had popular support when it assumed control, committing to deal with the ongoing instability triggered by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been sent in previously to deal with the escalating insurgency.
These forces have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed Russian mercenaries to combat the insecurity.
However, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.
